Buddy Ball A Courant Camping Bash

Summer camp season may have ended a couple of weeks ago but you wouldn’t know it if you stopped by Camp Courant Friday Night. There was a party going on.

It was Camp Courant’s 13^th annual Buddy Bash, a fundraiser for the camp that for 118 seasons, has provided summer camperships to needy Hartford children.

The place looked anything like a camp thanks to its “Friday Night Live” disco theme, that some revelers took to heart.

“I think I bought them for my wedding in 1980,” quipped Peter Shapiro, explaining his whiter-than-white retro dance shoes. Decked out in a John Travolta-esque white suit, black collared shirt and his white shoes, Shapiro and his wife Sally, were just visiting Connecticut after moving recently to new digs in Key West.

The evening also served as an unofficial goodbye to outgoing executive director Beth Gibbs who is stepping down from the post. The affable, longtime director emphasized  she is not retiring but will keep her hands in at Camp Courant doing whatever needs to be done.

“It’s a wonderful place and I have had wonderful years here,” she said. “But I’m not ready to leave yet.”

Also being feted at the party that included a buffet by some of the Hartford area’ s most well-known restaurants, an auction, and enough disco dancing to last a lifetime, was Travelers Tony Sisti, who was celebrating twice during the night.

“It’s nice to be recognized but we don’t do it for awards,” said Sisti, who received the camp’s “Spirit Award.” And the second reason he was celebrating? His employer received the camp’s top honor, the “Corporate Leadership Award.”

Emceed by Fox Ct personalities Jim Altman and Laurie Perez, there were other awards too. Peter DeBell and the DeBell Fund at Hartford Foundation for Public Giving was presented with  the “S’Mores Award” and Brian Miller and R&T Tree Removal received the “Buddy Award.”

For more pictures go to: http://cour.at/S4gIH4